Faculty Researchers
Organic chemistry, a major chemical discipline for over a century, focuses on the chemistry of carbon, developing new reactions, understanding their mechanisms, and applying this knowledge to the synthesis of natural and unnatural products. Our department has historical strengths in the synthesis of synthetic and natural polymers and bioactive molecules, such as drugs. Professor Bae is involved in the organic synthesis of novel organic polymers for use in fuel cells (also see Polymers, Materials and Energy). Through the application of enzyme and cell based chemistry (including Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering), Professor’s Gross uses “green chemistry” (also see Green Chemistry and Sustainability) to synthesize oligomers and polymers of amino acids, nucleic acids, glycolipids, and carbohydrates for application as biomaterials and bioactive reagents. Finally, many organic molecules, both natural and unnatural products, can ultimately be used as drugs for the treatment of diseases. This subdiscipline of organic chemistry, used in Drug Discovery, is referred to as Medicinal Chemistry and involves chemistry faculty, including Professors Breneman and Gross. Drug Discovery can begin with a lead compound, often a natural product isolated from a plant or microbe, through screening a library made through combinatorial chemistry, or through computational methods (also see Chemoinformatics and Computational Chemistry). Target compounds are then synthesized, structurally modified and their bioactivities tested to establish a structure-activity relationship. Finally, after detailed pharmacological evaluation, a refined target might make it into clinical evaluation and ultimately following regulatory approval on to the market as a new drug.
